


The Sorcerer's Lost Soul

by qdp



Series: The Redcloud Anthology [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Art, Best Friends, Fantasy, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Other, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24544324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qdp/pseuds/qdp
Summary: Best friends Alexi and Violet grew up together in the town of Derelect, known for its fantastic artistry. Alexi, a simple Human, has always felt inadequate compared to those, like Violet, who are special enough to harness powers of their own. One day, Violet's magic is put to the test, and leads to some devastating repercussions for both of them.
Series: The Redcloud Anthology [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773901
Kudos: 1
Collections: Dungeons and Dragon exploits





	The Sorcerer's Lost Soul

Alexi had always been a gifted artist.

From a young age, they’d picked up the fine arts of ink and lead and began creating masterpieces. Colorful, ambitious paintings sprung from their fingertips day and night, and Alexi had soon developed a deep desire for creation. Perhaps that is why they loved the town of Derelect in which they grew up in; perhaps that is why they stayed.

As a young human living in the land of Acopia—a deeply fantastical country where magic touches every corner—it was hard for Alexi to feel special. Plain, unmagical Humans often had a tendency to feel inadequate when compared to their incredibly powerful friends and foe. With a land as uniquely diverse as Acopia, why did Humans feel like the odd one out?

Well, Alexi believed that maybe it just meant they had to adapt to grow their internal strengths. Sure, any Dragonborn could breathe literal fire or ice from their breath, but could they explore an array of skills and talent as a Human could?  _ We just have to fight a little harder than the rest _ , Alexi believed. 

It was precisely this belief that led Alexi to substantially challenge their artistic skills. Living in a city like Derelect where artistic folk lined the streets, one had to especially stand out from the rest in order to be recognized and respected. Perhaps this is why Alexi chose to defy expectations even more when it came to their fashion and interests. They grew their silky brown hair down to their shoulders—expected to grow much further once they grew up a bit more—left their thick eyebrows unplucked and minimalistically managed, pierced their lobes, dressed with handkerchiefs and suit jackets, and spoke with neutral tonality. 

They were one of a kind, even in a town like Derelect. This drive and passion for artistic expression that consistently fueled Alexi’s spirit is what inevitably led them to meet their other half—a best friend for life, some said. Violet. 

The two had met at a young age while attending school together. Education courses were diverse and varied, but also required. Derelect believed that every child should sample every avenue of the world before deciding what they’d want to do in it. And although Alexi had desired the path of the artist for years already, not everyone had planned their pathway yet. Violet was one of those people.

In one of their first artistic courses of the year, Alexi had seen an array of people shuffle into the room for class that morning. Derelect was full of excitingly unique faces—Tieflings bearing multi-colored skin, Gnomes with magic imbued in the fibers of their head, even Changelings who harnessed the power of form reconstruction—but Violet’s stood out to Alexi almost immediately.

Light blue skin—odd for any Genasi that Alexi had met—tinted her face while her piercing long black hair caressed her jaw. Thick clothing covered her torso and legs, and she wore the same white jeweled necklace every day. But most noticeable of all was the faint gaseous aura that surrounded her presence. It gave her a hint of familiar brimstone scent. She was breathtaking.

It didn’t take long for Violet to notice Alexi staring at her class after class. It was in her fiery nature to make a comment about it; it was in Alexi’s to shrivel down into their chair and disappear.

“You got a problem with me?” Violet fussed to Alexi one morning after catching them staring.

Alexi was put off-guard; their face beat a bright red and moisture swelled on their forehead.

“I… uh, no!” Alexi responded nervously. “I–I just think you look kind of cool.”

_ ‘Kind of cool?’  _ Alexi battered themselves in their head.  _ What, are you in the fifth year again? _

Violet’s budding temper began to simmer as she noticed Alexi’s agitation. She leaned back in her cheap wooden chair, arms folded, as some more members of the class began to file in.

“No, Water Genasis are cool,” she said. “Fire Genasis are hot.”

She sent a wink Alexi’s way before the instructor came in to direct the class’s attention. Alexi tried their best to shake off the embarrassing interaction they had just created, but instead spent the whole class forcing themselves to stare straight ahead. By the end of the session, when Alexi had begun packing their bags hurriedly, a familiar figure stepped next to them.

“Sorry if I made you nervous there, friend.” Violet stood holding her books and brushes at her side, lifting her other hand up. “I’m Violet.”

“A–Alexi.” They reached out their sweaty hand and accepted Violet’s hand shake gesture.

Inevitably, they began sitting next to each other day after day. This started the beginning of their tight-knit friendship. Soon, the two had become inseparable.

Over the years, Alexi and Violet grew into their uniquely complementary personalities. Alexi weighed more on their artistic side, which Violet found magic to be a comparable skill to practice. In fact, she’d even begun training with the town’s most accomplished sorceress, Daeroris.

Alexi often feared that Violet’s extra training would come into conflict with the friendship they’d created over the years, though Violet constantly put them at ease that it wouldn’t. 

“You always expect the worst, Alexi,” Violet opened up one night while the two of them took their semi-nightly stroll through the desolate streets. Together they’d made a habit of perusing the streets for empty alley-way walls and splashing some life onto them. This tradition started only a few months ago, after Alexi’s step into Year Ten provided little artistic courses for a creative outlet.

Alexi shuffled their painting kit out of their bag and began to look through the brushes they’d acquired for the evening.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alexi replied. “I’m perfectly… realistic about things.”

Violet scoffed at their remark. “Ha—! That’s rich. I suppose that means you’re open to some more adventure now, yeah?”

Her aura still bled a gaseous form, though outwardly Violet liked to experiment with the rest of her appearance time and again. Her hair had been dyed and cut, now a deep ocean blue which faded to white at the tips. Not to mention the entire side of her head was recently shaved, so her locks fell to the side of her head. She still wore her jeweled necklace everyday, though, but now with a brown loosely cropped sleeveless shirt on her torso. Puffy forest-colored pants tapered at her ankles while a cape-esque half skirt blew in the wind around her waist. It appeared that Daeroris had also given Violet a pair of arm cuffs recently— _ to steady her hands in training, perhaps _ , Alexi thought. 

“What do you mean?” Alexi asked, finding a perfect brick canvas to paint their latest street masterpiece on. The two of them had found their way to the outskirts of Derelect—a vertically challenging feat—to a deserted brick neighborhood. The houses appeared to come from the olden days of construction, before the townsfolk decided to build vertically up the hills. Though Alexi would never say it—especially in this moment—it was slightly intimidating to look up to the stars and see a whole city growing above. They almost got the feeling that it could all come crashing down at any moment.

“Oh come on,” Violet broke Alexi out of their head. “ _ This _ is the most exciting thing we’ve ever done. Paint graffiti on some abandoned lots…”

“It’s not graffiti—it’s sophisticated!” Alexi asserted, almost exhausted from constantly having this argument with others about street art. They lifted their brush, dipped in white, to begin making a stroke.

“Right, I forget,” Violet teased, leaning against the wall to block Alexi from painting. “So, what do you say?”

Alexi appeared standoffish and sighed heavily, bringing their brush back to their chest.

“Oh come on, Alexi!” Violet exclaimed excitedly. “Daeroris and I have been working on some really cool magic and I want to show you.”

Alexi looked between Violet’s pleading eyes and their paintbrush softly dripping ink on the ground. Finally, they put it down in the white dye and folded their arms. Violet’s eyes lit up.

“Hell yeah!” Violet gave Alexi a slap on the shoulder in excitement before ushering them to take a few steps back. She faced the brick wall ahead of her, closed her eyes to focus, and began taking deep breaths. Suddenly, as Violet’s hands clasped together in front of her stomach, her eyes opened wide with a fiery gaze.

Alexi took another step back in anticipation, not wanting to come anywhere near the crossfires of whatever the hell she was about to do.

Magic swelled in her grasp, the likes that could only be visually described as a puff of gaseous crystal. Violet’s aura already teemed with smoke, and her sorcery only enhanced that genetic feature. The glowing light from her hands began wrapping itself slowly around her forearms before she raised her arms up towards the wall. 

In a flash, a magnetic pull sucked the magic out of Violet’s grasp and struck the wall with brute force. It spread sporadically in all directions, carving the brick like it was butter. Violet let out a final push of magic from her palms, accompanied by a rough bellow emitted from her lungs, and the wall burst.

The split brick fell to the ground narrowly avoiding Alexi’s artisans kit. The shape of the hole revealed itself to be a jagged oval, and as smoke and dust cleared the area, Alexi could see more clearly what Violet had done.

Before them stood a gate. A magic gateway to another plane—another realm of existence uniquely as magical as their own. Peering inside, Alexi saw mountainous terrain line the horizon as bright green grass surrounded the land. Ancient creatures frollicked through the underbrush and flora, but none seemed to notice them.

Looking over at Violet, she appeared just as shocked as Alexi. Although her amazement only slightly masked her clear exhilaration for the moment.

“Holy shit,” she uttered, looking between Alexi and the gate. “She was right.”

Alexi shook their head to come back to reality for a moment.

“Wait, who was right?” they asked.

“Daeroris” Violet answered. “She knew I had the potential in me but, damn, I didn’t believe it in myself until just now.”

Alexi was taken aback, and backed away even further from the wall in front of them.

“Violet,” they said. “Y—you mean to tell me you haven’t done this before? And you chose to do it  _ now _ ?”

Violet recognized Alexi’s budding anger and attempted to reel them back in.

“No—No! It’s not like that…”

The two swapped glances for a moment before Violet continued sheepishly.

“Well, I mean…  _ technically _ this was the first time—”

“Violet!” Alexi gave her a light push on the shoulders in defiance. “The fuck is the matter with you? What if your magic spun out of control again?”

“I was confident, sue me!” Violet retorted, half apologetic and half angry as well. “Don’t you trust that I know what I’m doing?”

“I trust that Daeroris is a great teacher and all but, fuck, Violet… this shit is foreign to me. And you know that. How am I supposed to  _ not _ be shocked right now?”

Violet released her tension for a moment. She looked back at the gate, still whirring comfortably with vibrant gaseous mist surrounding the frame, and then sorrowfully back to Alexi.

“I’m sorry, Alexi,” she said. “Truly—I didn’t mean to freak you out like that. I just wanted to share this experience with someone special, that’s all.”

Alexi released the tension in their shoulders and chest as well, closing their eyes and inhaling deeply. They looked back at the gate and took a couple steps towards it—enough to witness the pure beauty of it at least.

“Where does it go?” Alexi asked, staring at a pair of elk-looking animals in the distance.

“Not one-hundred percent sure, but I think it’s this place I’ve been reading about. Haven.”

“Is it safe?”

“Does it look safe?” Violet responded with a chuckle, setting her hand on Alexi’s shoulder as the two of them peered into this unknown world.

Alexi took a moment to reflect on the moment. The fear, the anxiety; it all began to wash away with an incoming wave of desire and curiosity. They turned their head to Violet and they locked hopeful eyes.

“If you ask me,” Violet began, “it almost seems like an inspiring place to paint. Don’t you think?”

Alexi knew they’d be convinced with words such as those. They blew out a puff of air from their nose and smiled, looking back into Haven.

“Fine,” Alexi finally said. They turned around to collect their bag and supplies, apprehensively eager to experience this gorgeous scenery with Violet at their side. “Just a few minutes, and we’re out.”

“Of course,” Violet reassured them. Once the two of them had gathered their belongings they stood side-by-side at the gate. She grabbed Alexi’s hand confidently which sent a rush of heat up their spine. “You ready?”

Alexi stared down at their interlacing fingers, now developing a significant amount of sweat, before staring straight ahead once more. The two of them had made their way up to the very edge of the gate, just one step away from entering this land of wonder.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Without another hesitation, the two of them lifted their feet, enlivened as they took their first steps into a world unknown.


End file.
